Sunday Globe Flashback: No Middlebury Road

A group of demonstrators at Middlebury College in Vermont “aggressively confronted” guest speaker Charles Murray and a Middlebury professor Thursday afternoon, a skirmish that turned violent and left the professor injured.

Murray, a controversial libertarian scholar, and Allison Stanger, a Middlebury College international politics and economics professor, were shoved by protesters as they left the McCullough Student Center, where Murray had given a talk, according to Middlebury College’s president, Laurie Patton.

One protester pulled Stanger’s hair and injured her neck. She was taken to a hospital, where she was treated and released.

In a statement, Patton apologized for the attack, saying she was “deeply disappointed by the events that I witnessed.”

“Today our community begins the process of addressing the deep and troubling divisions that were on display last night,” Patton wrote. “We must find a path to establishing a climate of open discourse as a core Middlebury value, while also recognizing critical matters of race, inclusion, class, sexual and gender identity, and the other factors that too often divide us.”

On Twitter, Murray described the protesters as “an out-of-control mob” that had physically assaulted him and Stanger. “The Middlebury administration was exemplary,” he posted. “The students were seriously scary.”

Bill Burger, a college spokesman, said administrators had heard that protesters planned to disrupt Murray’s visit, and created a backup plan to hold the lecture elsewhere on campus if necessary. “We were determined to let him speak,” Burger said. “It was core to our beliefs and principles as an institution.”

Murray arrived and tried to deliver his speech, but was shouted down, Burger said. As they had planned, administrators then took Murray to a video studio in the same building and broadcast the event online.

But some protesters began pulling fire alarms, temporarily shutting off power to the live stream.

When Murray finished his speech, he left the building with Stanger and Burger, but was met by a group of protesters who wore bandanas to cover their faces. Burger said he believed they were “outside agitators” who had been barred from the event, rather than Middlebury students.

Flanked by security officers, the three moved toward Burger’s car. By that point, more than 20 demonstrators had gathered.

One threw a stop sign with a heavy concrete base in front of Burger’s car, and several others rocked, pounded, and jumped on the vehicle.

“No one expected this to happen,” Burger said. “I fully expected the windows to break.”

A controversial figure, Murray is best known as the author of “The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life” and “Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010.” The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Murray as a “white nationalist” who believes in the intellectual and moral superiority of white men and advocates for the elimination of welfare and affirmative action.Now if he were Jewish....

Patton apologized “to everyone who came in good faith to participate in a serious discussion, and particularly to Mr. Murray and Prof. Stanger for the way they were treated during the event and, especially, afterward.” This means curtailment of protests on college campuses along with censorship of speech under the cover of political correctness.

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — Students and professors at Middlebury College were ashamed and embarrassed after an explosive protest Thursday night that has forced the school to reconsider what it means to embrace free speech.Agent provocateurs and their agenda!

The normally peaceful campus of Middlebury College, with its mountain backdrop and elite reputation, was shaken last week after violent student protesters shut down a talk by controversial conservative social scientist Charles Murray and injured a Middlebury professor who was with him.

Many on campus, including the college president and leaders of the student organization who invited him, disagree vehemently with Murray’s views on social welfare programs and race, but on Saturday they said the campus failed in its duty to exemplify how to debate unpopular ideas with civility.

Donald Trump’s presidency formed the backdrop for the protest, students said. The election has made people on campus dig their heels in ideologically, said Sabina Haque, a junior from Westford, Mass. They’re less willing to accept conflicting viewpoints, she said.Yeah, everything is his fault.

“This is more than just a Middlebury problem, it’s a problem across the country. There’s really a great divide that people can’t bridge,” she said.Not really! We vastly agree on ending the wars and providing good, quality health care for all. That's when parti$an$hip enters the fray.

Middlebury’s president, Laurie L. Patton, said the incident demonstrates that elite schools are subject to the same dynamic that challenges the rest of the country — an inability to debate differences constructively.

Students and professors burrowed their faces into scarves as they rushed between buildings on a gray, frigid day on the Middlebury campus. They agreed the campus feels different than it did a week ago, but the bubble is not unique to Middlebury. Since Trump’s election as president, and even in the long campaign that led to it, colleges across the country have struggled to balance free speech with an atmosphere that makes students feel safe and accepted.Shut it down then because there is no balance. Either you have it or you don't. There is no such thing as being a little bit pregnant, know what I mean?!

Murray’s visit put the campus on edge even before he arrived. Patton made clear she disagreed with his views but welcomed him nevertheless. She offered remarks on stage Thursday, before chaos broke out in the auditorium.

Professors held discussions with students during the week before his visit, and some said students had questions ready to ask Murray during his appearance at Wilson Hall in the McCullough Student Center.

“This is a tragedy,” said Matthew Dickinson, a political science professor, who said Murray will now be considered a martyr rather than an extremely polarizing author.

Murray is best known as the author of “The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life” and “Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010.” He has theorized that social welfare programs are doomed to hurt those they aim to help, and, most controversially, wrote of ethnic differences in measures of intelligence. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Murray as a “white nationalist” who believes in the intellectual and moral superiority of white men.

When Murray was unable to speak because of the protesters’ interruptions Thursday night, administrators took him to a video studio in the same building and broadcast the event online.

But some protesters began pulling fire alarms, temporarily shutting off power to the live stream. When Murray finished his speech, he left the building with Allison Stanger, professor of international politics and economics, and other college officials, but was met by a group of protesters who wore bandanas to cover their faces.That is CRIMINAL!

College spokesman Bill Burger said he believed they were “outside agitators” who had been barred from the event, rather than Middlebury students. Flanked by security officers, Murray, Stanger and Burger moved toward Burger’s car.

By that point, more than 20 demonstrators had gathered. One threw a stop sign with a heavy concrete base in front of the car Murray was in, and several others rocked, pounded, and jumped on the vehicle. One protester pulled Stanger’s hair and injured her neck. She was taken to a hospital, where she was treated and released.

The turn of events was perhaps most upsetting to those who invited Murray to campus, the student chapter of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

Club leaders said they disagree with Murray’s views but wanted him to discuss his 2012 book “Coming Apart,” which explores the white working class in America.

“Free speech shouldn’t just be free for those who are with you,” said Alexander Khan, a senior from Arizona studying political science and economics. “It should be free for everyone.”It's for the very ones oppose or it's not free! You don't see me calling for the shutdown of pre$$ spew, do you? They can lie all they want; it's up to you and me to discern the difference.

Hoxie and other club members said there is a problem at Middlebury, and they think it’s the same problem that plagues the nation: People are afraid to talk to each other about their differences of opinion.

Students have lost the ability to challenge one another in the classroom, they said, and in some cases are not encouraged to do so by professors.

“Students are afraid to be truthful in the classroom,” said Ivan Valladares, a senior from Brooklyn, N.Y., who is also a club leader.Try bringing up alternative theories regarding 9/11 and see how far you get.

Patton did not dispute the students’ diagnosis. Colleges must do more to encourage open dialogue, she said.

“We’re trying to find an educational space where people can have the tough conversations, and I think that’s incredibly difficult,” Patton said in an interview with the Globe Saturday afternoon.

Harvey Silverglate, a Cambridge civil liberties attorney, said there’s a difference between the students disrupting Murray’s lecture inside and the individuals who damaged the car.Is there?

Stanger called Thursday the saddest day of her life but said she doesn’t regret the experience. “Please instead consider this as a metaphor for what is wrong with our country,” Stanger wrote on Facebook. “And on that, Charles Murray and I would agree.”It's leftist hate and intolerance that is destroying it!

--more--"No eugenics? You kids are in the wrong place; you need to head over to the science labs because that stuff is CRISPR than a freshly-printed piece of Fed fraud. Murray is a relic and has nothing to do with it. He's writing books.

An editorial in the Wellesley College student newspaper that called for “shutting down” some forms of hateful rhetoric became the latest flashpoint in a contentious national debate over free speech and its limits on college campuses.

The editorial, published Wednesday in the Wellesley News, argues that the campus community will “not stand for hate speech, and will call it out when possible.”That's different than shutting it down.

“Shutting down rhetoric that undermines the existence and rights of others is not a violation of free speech; it is hate speech,” the editorial states. “The spirit of free speech is to protect the suppressed, not to protect a free-for-all where anything is acceptable, no matter how hateful and damaging.”I suppose given the state of ejewkhazion these days, the idiot kids would feel that way. They are confusing it with something else.

The editorial was widely criticized on social media as antithetical to the free exchange of ideas that is critical in a democracy and in liberal arts education. It comes as colleges across the country are wrestling with how to protect free speech in an era of trigger warnings, safe spaces, and even assaults on incendiary speakers invited to campuses.They are trying to destroy it claiming protection.

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of the Atlantic magazine, tweeted that the Wellesley News piece was “one of the more frightening editorials I’ve ever read.”

Alexis Zhang, an editor at The American Council of Trustees and Alumni, wrote on Twitter that, “As an alum, couldn’t disagree more w/ @Wellesley_News. Free expression is the bedrock of higher ed and campus groupthink bad for all.”

But Sharvari Johari, a co-editor-in-chief of the Wellesley News, defended the piece, and said it was a response to internal incidents on campus, including private e-mail threads and comments on Facebook that she declined to detail.

“We don’t want our community to be a place where hate speech goes unchecked,” she said.Don't understand the argument; only for speech your are against, otherwise not for free speech.And what about the lying, war-promoting pre$$ and their hate speech?

Debate about free speech at Wellesley has intensified since last month, when Laura Kipnis, a professor at Northwestern University, spoke on campus during “Censorship Awareness Week.”

Kipnis has stirred controversy for arguing that attempts by colleges to combat sexual assault have contributed to “sexual paranoia” and a skyrocketing sense of vulnerability among female students.

At Wellesley, Kipnis was denounced by a student group called Sexual Assault Awareness for Everyone, which released a video blasting her views and arguing that “white feminism is not feminism.”

A week before the speech, student protesters at Middlebury College shut down a talk by conservative social scientist Charles Murray and injured a Middlebury professor who was with him.

About a week after Kipnis spoke, a group of Wellesley professors who are part of the college’s Commission on Race, Ethnicity, and Equity argued that Wellesley should think more carefully before inviting speakers like Kipnis. The professors argued that speakers who are brought to campus to encourage debate can instead “stifle productive debate by enabling the bullying of disempowered groups.”That's a contradiction in terms. You can't bully if you have no power.

“There is no doubt that the speakers in question impose on the liberty of students, staff, and faculty,” the professors wrote in an e-mail to the campus community that was obtained by FIRE, a group that seeks to promote free speech on college campuses.

Seeking to ease tensions, Wellesley’s president, Paula A. Johnson, wrote a letter to the campus community April 4 in defense of free expression.

“Wellesley supports diverse opinions and the rights of all members of our community to voice their views,” Johnson wrote. “Active, open debate enriches and illuminates — it is fundamental to how we create new ways of seeing and thinking.”

Thomas Cushman, the Wellesley professor who invited Kipnis, said he has generally been proud of the tolerance the college has shown for provocative speakers, despite what he called an uptick in intolerance this semester.

He said he believes the Wellesley News editorial represents only one viewpoint on campus.

“I don’t think one group of students necessarily speaks for the entire student body at Wellesley College,” Cushman said....

"Yiannopoulos loses book deal after his remarks on pedophilia" by Paul S. Makishima Globe Staff February 20, 2017

It was high political drama played out over social media.

After video emerged this weekend showing Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos casting sexual relationships between older men and “boys’’ in a positive light, an influential conservative group rescinded its invitation to the right-wing provocateur to speak at its annual gathering this week, and publisher Simon & Schuster dropped plans to publish his book.

The Yiannopoulos video was tweeted out Sunday by the Reagan Battalion, a conservative blog. In it Yiannopoulos describes a sexual relationship he had when he was younger with a Catholic priest and he goes on to say: “In the homosexual world particularly, some of those relationships between younger boys and older men — the sort of coming of age relationships in which those older men have helped those young boys to discover who they are.’’He's an agent provocateur dick, but he was set upon because he was actually speaking the truth there. It is viewed that way in that secret world.

On his Facebook page Yiannopoulos sought to clarify his position. “I do not support pedophilia. Period. It is a vile and disgusting crime, perhaps the very worst. There are selectively edited videos doing the rounds, as part of a coordinated effort to discredit me from establishment Republicans, that suggest I am soft on the subject.

He noted that his own relationship took place when he was 17. The age of consent in the United Kingdom is 16....

--more--"Related:"This is not the first time Yiannopoulos, a staunch defender of the so-called alt-right and an avid supporter of President Donald Trump, has provoked outrage. His provocative, critical statements about Muslims, transgender people, immigrants, and women’s rights have ignited backlash from liberals and conservatives alike, and his lectures on college campuses have been met with protests that have at times turned violent. Several weeks ago, his planned speech at the University of California Berkeley was canceled after rioters set fires and smashed windows....."

Berklee is not UC Berkeley — but Twitter didn’t care Berkeley campus police were forced to evacuate Yiannopoulos from the building and cancel the event, and “the violence was instigated by a group of about 150 masked agitators who came onto campus and interrupted an otherwise nonviolent protest,” the school said in a statement.

I don't watch his one-sided show since he disbarred and evicted 9/11 questioners, and I hope he learned his lesson.

"Across China, a retrograde strain of populist nationalism is gaining strength as the ruling Communist Party intensifies its control over history and ideology. Those who question the party’s interpretations find their careers and reputations threatened, while their persecutors receive tacit and sometimes outright support from authorities. ‘‘They are shutting down speech that’s not aligned with the party,’’ said Feng Chongyi, a China scholar at Sydney’s University of Technology. ‘‘Populism and the manipulation of working-class anger, combined with nationalism and xenophobia, are the classic signs of Chinese totalitarianism.’’What say ye', American?UPDATE:

"The protests started peacefully around 4 p.m. As night fell, the crowd swelled to more than 1,500, police estimated, and ‘‘more than 100 armed individuals clad in ninja-like uniforms who utilized paramilitary tactics’’ infiltrated the crowd and began hurling commercial-grade fireworks, Molotov cocktails, rocks, and other objects at police, said school spokesman Dan Mogulof...." We call them agent provocateurs.

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